Hanging
Grimston
Neolithic / Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery
North of Uncleby Wold, North Yorkshire OS Map Ref SE810608 (centre)
OS Maps - Landranger 106 (Market Weighton), Explorer 300 (Howardian Hills &
Malton)
![]() The long barrow at SE808608 looking south. |
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This
group of monuments consists of a Neolithic
long
barrow, a line of later round
barrows, some earthworks and a Roman road. The long barrow is aligned
east-west and was excavated in the 1868 by JR Mortimer who recorded a burned
wooden mortuary house and traces of a timber façade at the eastern
end. Burials included pig jaws without the tusks, bowls and a human leg
bone. The remains have since been dated to about 3450BC. Estimates of the
original size of the barrow are around 24 metres long by 15 metres wide
with 8 metre wide side ditches. Later the barrow became part of a linear
earthwork now known as Queen Dyke, thought to date from the middle bronze
age. The Bronze Age round barrows follow the line of what could be an ancient trackway over Hanging Grimston Wold that later became a Roman Road. Many of them are ploughed out but some were excavated and recorded by Mortimer who found beakers, remains of a funeral pyre, oak coffins, collared urns and jet buttons. The most interesting barrow at SE806613 was found to contain a limestone ring of six stones with the remains of 11 burials inside. The long barrow is badly plough damaged, standing less than a metre high and many of the round barrows are hard to make out as well, although one to the north of the group is still in good condition. What still remains however are the stunning views to the west as the land drops away dramatically down Open Dale and out to the Derwent valley. |
![]() Barrow at SE817603 looking east |
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